NSSE Gets Good Press: 'A New Way to Look for a College'

NSSE, the National Survey of Student Engagement, hit the media big time with a long article by Santa Fabio in USA Today on November 5. More than 25o participating schools have agreed to share their data and USA Today is partnering with NSSE to make the data widely available to the public. Also mentioned in the article are the Collegiate Learning Assessment, the College Senior Survey, and recent initiatives by NAICU and AASCU.

Problem is, that kind of information hasn't typically been available to the public in a meaningful way.

The National Survey of Student Engagement wants to change that. While many popular college guides focus on things like SAT scores of incoming freshmen, or a college's party-school reputation, NSSE (pronounced "nessie") seeks to gauge the quality of an undergraduate education by looking at how actively involved students are with their studies, professors and the campus community. Decades of research shows that the more engaged students are, the more likely they are to learn.

Colleges appear to welcome such information. Since its 2000 debut, NSSE has surveyed nearly 1,200 schools at least once, and it has spawned similar surveys for law schools, community colleges and other populations.

Most colleges keep results confidential, using their data as an internal assessment tool. But this year, for the first time, NSSE is encouraging participating schools to make their scores publicly available.

USA TODAY, in partnership with NSSE, is publishing this guide in print and online to show how NSSE can enhance the college search. More than 250 schools have agreed to disclose their scores.

Pressure from Congress is one reason colleges are inching toward greater transparency; another is growing discontent with rankings like those compiled by U.S. News & World Report.

Accrediting agencies, which provide a third-party stamp of approval to colleges, have been asking since the 1990s for evidence that students are benefiting from their education. Congress has for years decried the absence of useful information available to students and parents. And a national commission appointed by Education Secretary Margaret Spellings last year urged colleges to consider publishing results from NSSE and other assessment tools as a way to help families see what they're getting for their tuition dollars.

In a bid to circumvent federal oversight, a number of non-profit higher education groups have developed or are developing websites through which consumers can get information, including NSSE scores in some cases, in easy-to-compare formats. More than 600 private institutions have signed up to participate in a website launched in September by the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities. A similar initiative by the National Association of State and University Land Grant Colleges is expected to debut in January; it was developed with the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. Other projects are in the works for research universities and online education.